Europe

The Federal State of Saarland hit the market on Monday to raise €500m with its first seven year bond since 2016.

Prospects are rising of a return to normal merger and acquisition activity, despite the continued grip of the Covid-19 pandemic. Telefónica, the Spanish telecoms group, has confirmed it is in talks about combining its UK mobile business O2 with Virgin Media, the quad play telecoms firm owned by Liberty Global.

Pexip, the Norwegian video conferencing company, has launched its Nkr2.14bn ($206m) IPO on the Oslo stock exchange.

Russian borrowers are still seeking funds from international lenders, with a handful of companies in the market. However, dynamics have changed amid the spread of the coronavirus and borrowers must offer higher margins to fewer lenders.

A group of veteran fund managers have launched a new boutique asset manager dedicated to responsible investing in emerging market equities.

Greece is looking to divert the use of proceeds of its borrowing to help it tackle the coronavirus crisis, but that is not likely to result in an increase to its funding programme.

The prospect of switching out of Pfandbriefe exposed to a high proportion of foreign commercial real estate and into higher-yielding, and more liquid, Scandinavian covered bonds exposed to domestic loan portfolios that are less affected by the coronavirus, is a tempting choice. But the protection Pfandbriefe offer investors and the scarce supply outlook means spreads on the product will remain supported, said bankers on Monday.

Plenum Investments, a catastrophe bond fund, is broadening its portfolio to include tier one and tier two debt issued by insurance companies. It is seeking to offer investors a higher risk-return option, and the announcement of the new fund comes at a time when spreads on subordinated insurance debt have widened.

France is looking at conducting a large syndication this month as it looks to finance a much bigger funding programme, according to SSA debt capital markets bankers.

The Danish Financial Services Authority is softening its application of the minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) amid Covid-19, meaning the country’s largest banks could end up issuing half as much senior debt this year as might have been expected.

GVS, the Italian manufacturer of filters and components for among other groups, healthcare companies, is on track to list in Milan this summer, according to sources close to the deal. The company is likely to be the first major listing on the Italian exchange this year after Covid-19 froze the market.

QBE sold $500m of additional tier one debt in the dollar market this week, as it sought to shield itself from the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.